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Has Louis CK’s sexual harassment scandal ruined the self-referential comedy genre?

  • Louis CK's Louie influenced a wide range of shows, including Marc Maron’s Maron, Tig Notaro’s One Mississippi and Maria Bamford’s Lady Dynamite. “CK’s downfall has brought the meta sitcom’s dark side into hard contrast,” says Stuart Heritage. “If you’re making a show about your life, and you’re willing to throw a few self-deprecating bones to the crowd here and there, you can use it as a shield to hide all your worst impulses. The audience will assume honesty in what it watches, because self-referential comedy relies on the perception of honesty to function. And now the trust is eroded, so the form has to work harder to win us over.”

    TOPICS: FX, Lady Dynamite, Louie, Maron, One Mississippi, Louis CK, Marc Maron, Maria Bamford, Tig Notaro, Sexual Misconduct